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— Since I'm the kind of viewer that doesn't really care about plotholes and can tolerate a sizable amount of oversold drama, maybe this show is a good fit for me

— On the other hand, I don't care at all about any of the characters yet, so maybe that will become a problem if it doesn't change later on. In that respect, this show was the opposite of Mouretsu Pirates. Mouretsu spent its time doing character development and setting explanation, and Symphogear spent its time creating spectacle and oversold drama without bothering with much characterization or making its setting make sense. Thankfully, neither of them drowned in fanservice.

— I can definitely see how that scene in the end of Symphogear Ep1 was inspired by Madoka. Specifically, some of the Sayaka scenes.

— If this show goes "DEEP", so to speak, with the music vs. noise symbolsim, I'll laugh at it and be incredibly entertained.

Now wtf did I just watch?
Story was seriously weird and seemed incoherent, too.

First some girl we know nothing about is dead, and there are lots of destroyed buildings. Two years back, the same girl is barely saved by one of the two main heroines doing a suicide attack, saving her and the city. Going back, she's still alive, and no destroyed buildings.

So what we saw at the beginning (dead Hibiki and destroyed buildings) is what would've happened if Kanade wouldn't have saved the girl and the city with her suicide attack. The show could be showing several possible realities to screw with our minds
It could be showing one (dead Hibiki and destroyed buildings) where Kanade is still alive because she didn't use her suicide attack, and another where she did, Hibiki survived, no destroyed buildings, and then Hibiki takes her place.
Then they could be switching back and forth between these two realities. Or, they could add some more diverging realities to the mix, for even more mindrape...

... or the beginning was "present" day at an undisclosed period of time afterwards where Hibiki already fought and died, and this is her friend giving a boxed narrative of her legacy.

Now wtf did I just watch?
Story was seriously weird and seemed incoherent, too.

First some girl we know nothing about is dead, and there are lots of destroyed buildings. Two years back, the same girl is barely saved by one of the two main heroines doing a suicide attack, saving her and the city. Going back, she's still alive, and no destroyed buildings.

So what we saw at the beginning (dead Hibiki and destroyed buildings) is what would've happened if Kanade wouldn't have saved the girl and the city with her suicide attack. The show could be showing several possible realities to screw with our minds
It could be showing one (dead Hibiki and destroyed buildings) where Kanade is still alive because she didn't use her suicide attack, and another where she did, Hibiki survived, no destroyed buildings, and then Hibiki takes her place.
Then they could be switching back and forth between these two realities. Or, they could add some more diverging realities to the mix, for even more mindrape...

Wait i though the story line was quite straight forward?

Clearly there was a level of government censorship going on (as the news report no Kanade's involvement). So Hibiki probably was publicly stated to be dead (hence her tombstone and her friends crying), while she's secretly moved into that special school near the anti-NOISE HQ.

If the government kept the anti-NOISE force secret from public. Then the NOISE will simply be seen as earthquake or tsunami, where you can't really avoid them, and after wrecking some havoc, they will.... disappear

Just checked out the first episode it was pretty entertaining and there were some interesting ideas at play. I did have problems with the writing i thought it was quite weak with the dialogue coming off very cheesy at times. Will probably check out the next ep but im not sure if this is going to hold my interest.

How do you explain that Tsukasa has a normal life then? Can't they say that Hibiki was scouted as a new member of Zweiwing, instead of having to 'bury' her?

Who is Tsukasa btw?

On Hibiki, maybe what the Zweiwing do (or will do) is considered illegal by the constitution or can be opposed by Hibiki's friends or families members (lead to unnecessary legal issues). So they will just keep silence on it and let her written as "dead". The biggest question rather would be, why didn't Hibiki contact her old friend and tell that she's fine.

If you wondering why do they have to make the plot so complicated? Well i guess a) misled audiences during the first half that Hibiki will die b) they will have a tear jerking moment later when Hibiki meet her old friend. Or maybe some mindf*** later when they reveal that the actual Hibiki is dead, this one is a different soul stealing her body and some of her memories.

I'm thinking Hibiki would transform into Kanade. It seems a piece of her power was embedded into her by accident.

I don't think these things cause you to turn into entirely different people even in outlandish powered armor type shows, but I guess we'll see. Pretty sure it doesn't ever work that way though. If anything she probably just has a way to activate her own powered armor now as a result of the incident.

I don't think these things cause you to turn into entirely different people even in outlandish powered armor type shows, but I guess we'll see. Pretty sure it doesn't ever work that way though. If anything she probably just has a way to activate her own powered armor now as a result of the incident.

Unfortunately I assume you're totally right with this as it's not like this is the first time this has ever been done where a character inherits their power/armor from the sacrifice of an established hero, hence why I hold pretty much no hope for Kanade to return since that would have been about the only way (and it would make me happy, like I was even when they had her losing and she might fail to save someone this once which I wouldn't have minded, until just before they blew it, which basically I know means it has no chance of happening), as soon as they confirm Hibiki as the lead in place of Kanade I'm pretty much done. Though I imagine those who didn't expect her to be one of the leads and just saw her as the quite nice sacrifice character in the usual "Hibiki story" will likely enjoy it.

Unfortunately it's probably the first time it's ever been done where for me I saw a show went from rare "Gainax-level where the heck did this come from?" (isn't this just supposed to be a moe idol cash-in? why are Kanade and Tsubasa kinda cool and Kanade kinda unusually charismatic and actually not a tsundere/airhead/bravado/quiet type-cast etc. singular group typed with some willpower/guts/kinda open, without the usual brattiness who seemingly knew when to get serious or say something helpful?) to done-that-repeatedly and jumped the shark trying to be "edgy" ultimately getting rid of the best character, who was billed as a lead, whom out of nowhere (compared to my expected "oh she's red and she's blue, so she'll be the "happy/outgoing" idol and Tsubasa will be the "quiet" idol") suddenly felt like something potentially distinctive in a show that I doubt I expected it from and was making like they had potentially the next relatively rare "Haruko/Birdy etc./rare charismatic distinctive heroine" (not that this was guaranteed ofcourse) for by far the worst character we saw and most often done, plus as you said looks like she's "10 years younger" than the two characters we were lead to believe were the protags, and as you pointed out what age is she supposed to be and why does her design barely even look like it's from the same show as anyone else seemingly prominent we saw including Kanade, Tsubasa and everyone else we saw briefly down in that base room, everything about her is such a let down after being so close to the "Kanade/Tsubasa show".

I can't comprehend how a character that had minimal screentime can be considered "the best character"...

Crimson Cloud described it best, it was a combination of things, timing, design, traits, etc.

Spoiler:

I guess like before I'll say part of that is my fault, low expectations basically checked it out mainly to see her character thanks to their lying promo stuff (unless something happens) with her cool design and the battlsuits shots with her and Tsubasa and all of a sudden I found myself getting into the show because she was actually delivering. I'd say "best" because she was IMO and surprisingly seemed to have the potential to even hold the show on her back and was advertised as one of the leads. And came out of nowhere to be unusual, she was supposedly one of the leads and yet they didn't need to do any "exposition" or "sob story" to make her likeable even before they went the extra mile and had her kill herself for someone else as she had some charisma without the usual "baggage" (action-type joked with the commander, and yet observant about her partner etc., fun but not stupid, some bravery on the battlefield even if she was going to potentially fail this time, bamn two/three things and she was likeable) and was potentially a kind of a rare character demonstrating a little bit from each character type kinda briefly demonstrated as multifaceted and not just "a ___". Instead we have exactly whom we always have "Hibiki".

Which as I said is partially my own fault, for seeing the character art reveal and picking a potential favorite of the leads I wanted to check the show out for at least for her design, and maybe would have been alright, if they didn't "pull the bait-and-switch" plus a way better Hibiki design. And they're still doing it.

Edit: Agematsu's composed on some of my favorite games like the Wild Arms games.

I had absolutely zero ideas or expectations for this (especially after hearing Agematsu's behind this which is highly unusual given his field of work). And, at least to me, seemed decently apparent that the focus was going on Hibiki, more than Kanade et al. The preview screening impressions cemented this idea, that was confirmed when I actually saw the episode.

This might be one of the few series that potentially can stop my usual "3 episodes trial" habits, as the first episode was nothing close to entertaining. In fact, it was even a challenge to find something redeemable.

Seriously though, past the plot being extremely convulated and hardly making sense by its own standards, it is difficult to take the series itself seriously considering the characters. Special mention to the "antagonists" being as interesting as clamshells, literally.
Everything made so little sense, which was worsened by an horrible budget. Starting the first 2 minutes, I was a bit surprised how poor it was, by the time of the first 5 minutes, I was questioning if it was even a 2006 production considering how unpolished, rough and awkward it was.

Oh hey would you look at that, the farce continues as predicted, Hibiki and Kanade have swapped, the order of the characters has been rearranged in favor of the two little moe schoolgirls on the character page...BS... as expected Hibiki's going to even outstar the second supposed lead of the show in side-kicked Tsubasa...

Oh hey would you look at that, the farce continues as predicted, Hibiki and Kanade have swapped, the order of the characters has been rearranged in favor of the two little moe schoolgirls on the character page...BS... as expected Hibiki's going to even outstar the second supposed lead of the show in side-kicked Tsubasa...

Well one of them is currently deceased and still on the first row. Kanade's fans should at least think of that as a piece of good fortune for them. I'm interested in seeing what Hibiki can do with her new powers.